F4U Corsair

[Chief_10Beers]

One of my WWII all time favorites.......................

F4U Airshow 05-18-2014b

F4U Airshow 05-18-2014a

F4U Airshow 05-18-2014

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

My brother in law's Dad drove one of those for the Marines in the South Pacific. I think they've always had a special place in many of our hearts!

Rick C

 

[don44]

Thumbs Up !

 

[Fox Mike]

Great plane, once they worked out the 'kinks'. The Japs called it "Whistling Death".

 

[6GUNSONLY]

Nice pics of a really elegant looking fighter plane.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Yes Probably the best fighter of WWII In some ways it outperformed the 51 and was better than the F6F Hellcat.
Here is a little know fact for you. The Corsair was also the last American-produced fighter aircraft to feature fabric as the skinning for the top and bottom of each outer wing, aft of the main spar and armament bays, and for the ailerons, elevators and rudder. The elevators were also constructed from plywood. Most all the ones that have been restored have gone to aluminum wings

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Great pics, one of the best!

A very old friend of mine flew a B-25 for the Marines (they didn't call it a B-25, I think its "Navy" moniker was PBJ) in the South Pacific in WWII, and then a Corsair night fighter at the start of the Korean War. He got one "victory," a Russian-made biplane "Bed-Check Charlie" that was made of fabric and wood and never showed up on his radar at all. He was rotated back to the US before the Marines started using the F3D jet night fighter ("Skyknight" or as the Marines called it, "The Whale").

 

[SAJohn]

The Marines wound up with most of the Corsairs because they were too hard to land on a Carrier.

Back in the late 60's to early 70's a Commander friend of mine owned his own personnel Corsair. He flew it to each new duty station where the base C.O. always gave him permission to keep it on the field. The sailors would volunteer their own off duty time to maintain it.

 

[WendyZXZ]

Those are some beautiful picture and aircraft! It did stay in production long after other fighters from the 1940s stopped which tells something about the plane.

 

[Snake45]

Those are some beautiful picture and aircraft! It did stay in production long after other fighters from the 1940s stopped which tells something about the plane.

The last of them were built in 1952--attack AU-1s for the USMC in Korea, and F4U-7s for the French Navy.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

The Marines wound up with most of the Corsairs because they were too hard to land on a Carrier.

The approach that is still used to this day by the Navy is do to the approach developed by the Britts for the Corsair. Once this procedure
was accepted into the landing pattern the F4U became a great shipboard aircraft.
We can also thank the Britts for the Angle Deck, Steam Catapult, and the Meat Ball /Fresnel Lens. Whiteout those three items we would have NEVER been able to land Modern Jets on the Boat.

 

[Hashknife Hartley]

When were the Corsair's first deployed in WW2, seems like when we hit Guadacanal in 1942, we had the F4F Wildcat and the F4U came along a little later. Didn't Greg "Pappy" Boyinton fly them when he hit the 'Canal'. Neat plane and great photos. I get a "Ghosts" calendar every year for X-mas and it has F4U's quite often as one of the month's displays.
HH

 

[GA Cracker]

Thanks for posting Chief! I am reading Retreat Hell from the karma and the Corsair is mentioned. I had no idea what they looked like and now I do. Those guys dug into the frozen ground were sure glad to see them!

 

[Bob Wright]

The F4U (and the FG-1) and the P-47 Thunderbolt were both beautiful in spite of their looks. Not sleek like the Mustang nor Spitfire, but sort of a brutal, bull dogish look with that big radial engine in front.

Bob Wright

 

[Snake45]

The F4U (and the FG-1) and the P-47 Thunderbolt were both beautiful in spite of their looks. Not sleek like the Mustang nor Spitfire, but sort of a brutal, bull dogish look with that big radial engine in front.

Bob Wright

Put the F8F Bearcat, the AD Skyraider, and the Brit Hawker Sea Fury on that list, too. :wink:

 

[Chief_10Beers]

The F4U (and the FG-1) and the P-47 Thunderbolt were both beautiful in spite of their looks. Not sleek like the Mustang nor Spitfire, but sort of a brutal, bull dogish look with that big radial engine in front.

Bob Wright

Put the F8F Bearcat, the AD Skyraider, and the Brit Hawker Sea Fury on that list, too. :wink:

and the Hawker Typhoon/Tempest :wink: .............................

 

[Snake45]

The F4U (and the FG-1) and the P-47 Thunderbolt were both beautiful in spite of their looks. Not sleek like the Mustang nor Spitfire, but sort of a brutal, bull dogish look with that big radial engine in front.

Bob Wright

Put the F8F Bearcat, the AD Skyraider, and the Brit Hawker Sea Fury on that list, too. :wink:

and the Hawker Typhoon/Tempest :wink: .............................

The Typhoon and most Tempests didn't have radials, though the Tempest MKII--which kind of eventually evolved into the Sea Fury--did. :wink:

 

[Chief_10Beers]

The Typhoon and most Tempests didn't have radials, though the Tempest MKII--which kind of eventually evolved into the Sea Fury--did. :wink:

I went with the theme of the Bull Dog looks .......................

 

[Hashknife Hartley]

But if you're sticking with WW2 planes, the F4U, P-47, and even the F6F had those bulldog looks; the F4F Wildcat was too short and stubby, guess that's why they called it "the jug". The Bearcat came along in 1946, the Sea Fury in 1947, and the Skyraider not till 1951, so they had to wait till Korea to show their good looks. The Skyraider wasn't a fighter, more an assault plane and could carry a ton of ordnance, and was used clear up to Viet Nam. Love those old WW2 planes.
HH

 

[MrJim]

My favorite since I was a kid watching "Baa Baa Black Sheep"...the Spitfire & FW-190 are tied for second place (yeah I might be a bit of a WW2 student )...